I Didn’t Want To Write About Kim K’s Nude Selfie. But I Do Have This To Say…

I’m somewhat at my wit’s end at feeling compelled to write a think piece regarding Kim Kardashian West’s overtly sexualized image. I’ve defended her twice on my website before. And looking back, they were pretty much fluff pieces. There’s been less of a rush to spill my feelings unless it directly affects me somehow because at 29 years old…I kind of just don’t care anymore.

However. Because there’s always one. I had a moment with the ridiculous controversy of it all. My thoughts didn’t steer towards slut-shaming her about the picture, but instead exhaustion. I 100% agree that it is Kim’s right to post whatever the hell she wants. But why must I have to see her naked body time and time again on my newsfeed across Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter? And it’s not like you have to follow her on any social media accounts or be an avid Shade Room follower to be in the know. I even saw a post about this picture on

Because there’s always one. I had a moment with the ridiculous controversy of it all. My thoughts didn’t steer towards slut-shaming her about the picture, but instead exhaustion. I 100% agree that it is Kim’s right to post whatever the hell she wants. But why must I have to see her naked body time and time again on my newsfeed across Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter? And it’s not like you have to follow her on any social media accounts or be an avid Shade Room follower to be in the know. I even saw a post about this picture on

I had a moment with the ridiculous controversy of it all. My thoughts didn’t steer towards slut-shaming her about her now way too talked about “nude selfie” picture, but instead exhaustion. I 100% agree that it is Kim’s right to post whatever the hell she wants. But why must I have to see her naked body time and time again on my newsfeed across Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter? And it’s not like you have to follow her on any social media accounts or be an avid Shade Room follower to be in the know. I even saw a post about this picture on The Boston Globe. The same newspaper that was recently featured in the Oscar winner for Best Picture this year (for 2015), the film Spotlight. Whatever Kim does, it’s posted everywhere.

With Kim’s latest body pic, I just think we’ve seen this side of Kim too many times before. This is nothing new from the world of Kim Kardashian West. She is allowed, as she wrote in her actually impressively written open letter to the haters, to be empowered by her sexuality, flaws, and body, and in being a woman. But as her audience and even her fans, this is the only side or form of empowerment we receive from Kim: gratuitous sex appeal. How is her latest photo any different from her original break the Internet photo for PAPER magazine? Or her W Magazine cover in which she apparently disapproved of, as shown during an episode of her show Keeping Up With The Kardashians? The rhetoric is tired and when she posts pics like this, it’s as if she had too much time on her hands or just wants to be talked about. Celebrities know what they are doing when they run to Twitter to have a beef instead of personally calling someone up. Or when they post pictures similar to Kim, such as male rapper The Game who just won’t give up on Eggplant Fridays on his Instagram. They want attention. And we all have to suffer through it because American media is so desperate for hits, likes, and to stay relevant.

Kim wrote in her letter: “I am a mother. I am a wife, a sister, a daughter, an entrepreneur and I am allowed to be sexy.” So where’s the balance between entrepreneurship photos along the sexy pics? I personally wanna see Kim at work too. In business meetings, the blueprints. I once watched an interview she did, on YouTube, with Re/Code and it was a bit fantastic to witness. She was still very much Kim, walking on stage in a skin-tight white pencil skirt and matching white mock turtleneck top, looking chic as ever. But instead of not saying much of anything, she talked thoroughly about the creation of her Kim Kardashian: Hollywood app and how she came around to accepting social media as a means of business and promotion. It was groundbreaking. We just almost never get to see this book smart-ish side of Kim. She’s an entrepreneur that acknowledges that she didn’t know much about how technology before opportunities involving it came her way. But as someone that wanted to be in control of products in her name, she learned along the way. I can relate. Science, tech, and social media strategies sometimes still baffle me. But if she can learn, so can I. Most people aren’t even aware that an interview like this occurred. Or that she once covered

I once watched an interview she did, on YouTube, with Re/Code and it was a bit fantastic to witness. She was still very much Kim, walking on stage in a skin-tight white pencil skirt and matching white mock turtleneck top, looking chic as ever. But instead of not saying much of anything, she talked thoroughly about the creation of her Kim Kardashian: Hollywood app and how she came around to accepting social media as a means of business and promotion. We just almost never see this book smart-ish side of Kim. She’s an entrepreneur that acknowledges that she didn’t know much about a field like technology. But as someone that wanted to be in control of products in her name, she learned along the way. I think such an effort is relatable and admirable. Science, tech, and social media strategies, for example, sometimes still baffle me. But if she can learn, so can I. Most people aren’t even aware that her Re/Code interview occurred. Or that she once covered AdAge magazine. The media doesn’t post these developments about her. Yet a nude selfie of her is shared everywhere (though that is maybe what she wanted). The fault of why we continue to see pictures like we recently did of Kim goes both ways because she must subconsciously feel that pop culture will only allow her to be a sex symbol with little substance and no one writes about her unless her body is prominently on display.

I don’t believe at all that Kim should have to be reminded or constantly emotionally and mentally pay for having made a sex tape. The fact that she didn’t disappear after it became public knowledge, I applaud her for it. I don’t know if many of us could’ve gone on, as far continuing to be in the media fish bowl. But I feel there are bigger reasons and looming issues as to why anyone, celebrity or not, should always feel emboldened by only their sexuality and in shoving such a decision down our throats. Being proud of your sexuality and body and sharing that with the world will always be controversial because it is intimate. Why do we have to see what Kanye sees? How is this powerful (to you) that we have the same view?

Kim is likely as calculated about her images as she is about her KIMOJI app. I still definitely prefer that as women, when we do post pictures of ourselves more salacious than usual that it is on our consent and not someone else’s. The timing is also interesting. Erin Andrews, sports news anchorwoman,just won a $55 million dollarsettlement in her lawsuit against the pervert who filmed her naked in her hotel room, as well as the Nashville branch of Marriott Hotels where the incident took place. Andrews will likely receive about $6 million in reality, but Andrews has already tearfully expressed how her life will never be the same because of the leaked footage from that hotel stay. It was reported just days ago that over seventeen million people have watched the tape and that’s mortifying.

Expressing sex, sexual feelings, or your sexuality, body, anything of the ilk–consensually–should be taken considerably than carelessly. Possibly, this time, around, Kim just came across reckless and presented her body as the entertainment instead of the inspiration (initially). I’m starting to believe that maybe it all really boils down to presentation. Like isn’t this photo below ten times more impactful than the one we’ve been forced to see the last 48 hours? Especially considering the caption.